[atlantaprog] "Dad Rock"

So that's what the kids are calling prog these days -

From deCONform magazine, a hipster indy/publication:

http://deconformmagazine.org/deconformv3l2.php?show=15

Dad Rock Pick of the Issue: Jethro Tull

<x-tad-smaller>Todd Woodlan

</x-tad-smaller><x-tad-bigger>In the annals of rock and roll history, Jethro Tull reached its greatest notoriety for stealing the innagural award for “Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance” at the 1989 Grammy Awards, successfully pissing off legions of semi-literate Metallica fans and becoming the fodder for the biting quips of B-list comedians on countless VH1 formula shows. Such a designation is completely unfair for Ian Anderson and the rest of his rockin’ Rennaisance Fair cast-offs. No single band has equalled the Tull’s importance within the artistically fertile genre of “Dad Rock,” and Thick as a Brick stands as the counter-culture soundtrack of so many male mid-life crisises.

“Dad Rock,” though somewhat self-explanitory, has deeper meaning beyond the title itself. Overtaken by his kids’ angsty teenage bitching, the societal norms of masculinity and the wife’s facistic “Michael Bolton” death grip on the home stereo system, WASP-y fathers across the United States need to find release. Outside of Neo-Conservatism and born-again Christianity, nothing provides sweet salvation like driving around the neighborhood with the windows of the Buick Century down while ingesting the sweet aural nectar of “Dad Rock.”

While other artists within the genre, like Chicago (the early stuff), Kansas, Eric Clapton (the solo stuff), and Steppenwolf (if feeling extra-saucy), are more popular, Thick as a Brick is the ulitmate “Dad Rock” album. Its (somewhat) driving beats convey the middle finger dad wants to give to Mom for making him pull the weeds while she plays mah-jong with her annoying friends and discusses with all of those cows about her husband’s erectile problems. The flutes and prog-rock pretentiousness reflects the father’s repressed artsy-side, which is only revealed through sightseeing trips at museums during unbearable family trips to Europe or the Baroque art prints in the master bathroom.

Although the numbers may lie, this album resides in every WASP-y dad’s album collection for a reason. Go ahead, check your dad’s record collection! I bet it’s there, and for good reason. Yeah, the album sucks, but you were a sucky kid.</x-tad-bigger>

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